Great New Rivalry

There have been many phone calls and emails in the past 24 hours as fans of the local game in WA have tried to find out what is going on in relation to the rumoured game this weekend between the Champions of South Australia, Metro Stars and the Champions of Western Australia, Sorrento. Finding information on the game is very hard. This is a great initiative and will give fans in WA the chance to see how good their top team stacks up against their counterparts from South Australia. It will hopefully be an annual event and a rivalry will build between the two states. Congratulations to whoever came up with the idea and for making this happen.

Why is it that Football continually comes up with a good idea but fails to execute that idea properly?

One does worry that once again a great idea has not been thought through properly and all parties to make it a success consulted. The lack of promotion would tend to indicate this is the case.

There is also the simple matter of the clubs being aware of the game. Sorrento were only advised at the eleventh hour. On top of that there is the issue of payment for their players. The season is officially over, yet the players are being asked to play one more game, the club is unlikely to have budgeted for an extra game, as they did not know about it. So will Football West pick up the wage bill on behalf of the club?

Another thing that is slightly baffling is why such a game would not be played at the Champions home ground. Surely they deserve that privilege and the chance to make some money over the bar, via the gate or through the canteen? For some reason the game will be played at Perth’s home ground BGC stadium.

It is great that such a fixture has been arranged, but once again it would appear that all of the supporting issues have not been thought through properly. The argument may well be ‘this is the first game there were bound to be teething problems,’ but why? Why is it things cannot be done properly the first time. Football let’s itself down on occasions such as this because it frequently has not thought through all of the issues through properly.

Let us hope that on the day that is all irrelevant and Sorrento do WA proud.

Have to agree, great concept, but not thought through. Fancy holding it the evening after the Gold medal night, can’t imagine many wives will be letting husbands out two nights in a row! Why have a 5pm kick off?

You can tell that Mr Hugg and Mr Wood have actually never played for a club as they have no feel for the way clubs operate or how players work.

I am not sure if you were at the Grand Final – I expect you were – but again they let the side down there. Hugg’s presentation was done in a couldn’t care less style. And why as the CEO of the game on its biggest day was he not in a suit and tie? The same goes for the board member who gave out an award. Keith Wood was in shorts and he is supposed to be the man in charge of the state league. Do they really care about the game and the image they portray?

Must admit I had not thought about the Gold Medal awards being the night before. One wonders if that means the teams playing the next day won’t drink?

I was at the Grand Final and I did see the attire of some of the key players and the best way to describe it was very disappointing. Credit though to the Chairman Bob Kucera who was in a suit and looked smart and carried himself appropriately, 10 out of 10 for him.